The sea has been a fascination for man since his first appearance on this planet. Primitive forms of life originated first in the primeval soup of ancient oceans billions of years ago, migrated to land, and became bird, beast, reptiles and man. If we close both our ears with our fingers, we can still hear the reverberations of ocean waves crashing in our blood. Oceans have served not only as an ancient home to man but provided him with a multitude of marine products for sustenance also.

Evolution of bird, beast, reptiles, Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons and Homo-Sapiens from the sea.

Fishermen and fishing evolved into a distinctly defined profession and a community long before mankind turned to hunting and cultivation. Evolution first occurred in the sea, then on sea shores, then on inlands and then on mountains. After reptiles shortened their tails, grew wings and became birds, man was the next to evolve from apes living in the mountains and forests. The golden-haired and beautiful Neanderthals came first, then the shorter and lesser intelligent Cro-Magnons, and lastly the shortest and the least intelligent Homo sapiens. Whoever these ancients were and wherever they sheltered, they undoubtedly collected food from the sea. It was only natural for man turning to sea for food, to where he came from, as natural as a child turning to its mother for nourishment. And like a mother, the sea has eternally been providing for her children, without demanding much back except keeping her clean.

The swaying motions of a boat provided the rhythm and the wind and the wave the tune for the poem.02. Sustaining life in the planet By Cobber 17.

The day-to-day life of fishermen had to be told in a poem by someone and Sarojini Naidu chose telling it as her privilege. The swaying motions of a boat she used to play in her childhood years in the Coromandel Bay in the Bay of Bengal provided the rhythm and the unrelenting sound of the waves and the wind provided the tune. The rest was easy and the poem was born as an immortal piece of world literature. When we read her lovely descriptions of the wind and wave and family life on shore, we are reminded of, and do subconsciously recreate, the tender feelings of a very young girl for the affection in human life for the astounding forces of nature.

It is only natural for a fisherman to start day by bowing before the life-giving sun.03. A playful child at sea shore By Sailu.d18.

Sun worshiping is prevalent among people of the nature. The Morning Sun and the Setting Sun both have their own worshipers among the Hindus of India. It is not a lone practice among the Hindus but the Ancient Egyptians also were stanch worshipers of the Sun. The name of the Egyptian Sun God was Ra. The name of their king Ramses originated from the Ra sound and this sound has been the basic root of the names of many mighty rulers in the world through centuries. It is such a powerful sound that a man or a woman with the Ra sound in his or her name would march to authority. (A book by the name ‘Magic Of Ra- The Most Cantankerous Political Theory Of India’ by P S Remesh Chandran has been published). As the Sun is the life-giver of the planet, it is only natural for a fisherman, or for anyone a devotee of nature, to start the day after bowing before his life-giver. Here in this poem we see not only the corporeal human beings but even the elemental sky also is offering its morning prayers to the rising Sun. In the very early dawn, it is the sky that wakens first and is offering its morning prayers to the Sun. Then the fishermen rise, before even the first ray of light touches the sky. Even the wind would not have risen then. ‘The wind would still be lying fast asleep in the arms of the dawn, like a child that has been crying all night.’ In real life it is indeed a beautiful sight to see the face of a child that had been crying all night but now is oversleeping peacefully into the late morning. The idea is not only romantic but scientific too, because the wind rises only after the sun has risen and the atmospheric temperature also has risen with the sun.

Morning in sea shore is a scene of hectic activity before setting out to sea.04. Children are always happy in water By Biswarup Ganguly.

Morning in the sea shore is a scene of hectic activity. Fishermen of the Bay of Bengal, soon after they rise, begin works of preparation before going out to sea. The nets spread on the shore after yesterday's fishing for drying will have to be gathered. The catamarans turned upside down for drying and resting on the sand will have to be freed and carried to sea. Hasty but systematic preparations are going on, and now it is time to set out to sea for capturing the abundant and leaping wealth of the tide. Seeing all this clockwork-like activity, naturally, we will wonder if this wealth in the sea is their paternal property to capture at will. No, it is their mother’s, their maternal property. They are all the sons and rulers of the sea. The sea is their mother, the cloud is their brother and the waves are their comrades and playmates all. They have a birth right over the abundant wealth of the sea as sons of the sea. All mankind are. The sea shows her maternal affection to all sea-shore residents and fishermen. The sea is their only source of income and sustenance and the mother knows.

Rolling mountains of waves and abysmal depths do not make them fear.05. Papa will be back soon. Child with mother By Biswarup Ganguly.

Where sea-gulls call, fishes are in plenty. Only in places where fishes are abundant would sea-gulls make their presence. So the fishermen hasten away, without delay, in the track of the sea-gull's call. They follow the path of the sea gull’s call to places where fishes are in plenty. Once there, their job is easy. Rolling mountains of waves, abysmal depths of sea and massive dark clouds looming in the sky normally should make anyone fear about their safety once the firm shore is left behind, but not the fishermen. They have no reason to fear the sea, clouds or waves. The sea is their mother, the cloud is their brother and the waves are their comrades all. Unwavering faith is everything in one’s life.

Sea is a motherly lady and sea god Neptune is a father figure.

In the evening they would be tossing with waves somewhere in the mid-ocean, in unfathomable depths and faraway distances fully at the mercy of the wind and waves and sky where the sea god Neptune controls everything. But they needn’t fear; the all-powerful Sea God Neptune, strong enough even to hold the storm by its hair, will hide (protect) their lives in his broad breast. It’s fatherly affection! Once they are beloved to the sea, they are beloved to the mighty wind also who is the lover of the sea who moves the sea in whichever direction he desires and who in his turn is at the disposal of the sea god Neptune. In poetic conviction, sea is a motherly lady and sea god Neptune is a father figure who controls the wind and the sea and the human lives tossing in the waves .

Which is sweeter to fishermen, the turbulent sea or the peaceful shore?06. Bondages as old as the sea By Biswarup Ganguly.

Which is the most restful and peaceful to a bird- the sky it soars in or the nest it returns to everyday? Which is dearer to a swan- the broad sunlit waters it swims in or the shaded watery glade it always makes its home of? Which is sweeter to a fisherman- the turbulent seas he makes a living out of or the peaceful shore he has built his hut in to live with his family? The fishermen indeed have sweet attractions on the shore. The shade of the coconut glade, the scent of the mango grove and the sands at night lit by the full moon, with the sounds of the voices of their most beloved ones nearby, are indeed sweet.

The fishermen long for the sea and prefer the sea, insatiate with the sea.07. Resting at home after work By Biswarup Ganguly.

Glades are open spaces in a forest or wood; here it is an open space amid coconut palms beside the sea shore where fishermen’s children play and the fishermen spend an evening away. Groves are small woods, orchards or groups of trees; here it is a small mango orchard near the homes of the fishermen where they occasionally gather for passing time or assemble themselves for local celebrations. Going through such rustic pleasures in these glades are sweet to the fishermen indeed, but the kiss of the spray wash on their lips and the feel of happiness in the dance of the wild foam are sweeter to these fishermen. The sea and the shore are not two separate entities for them but one inseparable unity. They long for the sea and prefer the sea, insatiate with the sea. So, they row to the blue of the verge where the low sky comes down to meet the rising sea like an eager friend from above, and there they are at play like eternally happy children.

The fishermen rowing towards the bluishness of the distant horizon, at sunset.08. Kerala Fishermen launching boat By Prime Jyothi.

Towards the close of the poem, we see the fisherman and his comrades, bathed in broad daylight, rowing towards the bluishness of the distant horizon where the sky lowers itself to come meeting the sea, where the sky and the sea are at play, like eager friends. They are not coming towards us to the landlocked limitedness of the shore but moving towards the broad and limitless expanse of many things. What better setting to land a poem on the sea! The poem itself is an illustration of how the sea, cloud, waves and human lives are interconnected. In some versions of this poem, the end line is seen to be changed as ‘Row, brothers, row to the edge of the verge’ which is not correct. The original line as written by the Nightingale of India must be ‘Row brothers row, to blue of the verge, where the low sky mates with the sea’.

Remembering their forefathers who crossed vast expanses of oceans and went in search of new lands.

09. Fishermen's catch in Bangladesh By Balaram Mahalder.

Sometimes in their rustic simplicity, while sitting in their crude catamarans tossed up and down with waves, these fishermen will think about their ancient forefathers who crossed the vast expanses of oceans and went in search of new lands. The anxiety to know where all these waters are flowing into is what creates in sea-going people this urge to explore beyond horizons. Man’s yearning for sea voyages was what opened up the seas, chanced new continents like America and Africa to the found, and expanded the known world and distributed the human race far and wide. Remembering these forefathers even while battling with waves in new-found routes keeps mankind’s flame of wander-thirst burning, prompting him to explore still more unknown depths, though almost all the known depths and breadths of the oceans have already been surveyed and mapped. Sarojini Naidu too in her childhood years, rowing her fragile boat to and fro in waves in some sea-side cove in the Bay of Bengal, might have wondered in her sweet childish innocence where all these waters must be flowing into.

The picture of a teen-aged poetess rowing her boat in the Bay of Bengal.10. Fishermen Life 1832 Painting By Carl Portmann 2.

When we sing this poem, if we sing this poem which is more like a song, we can see in our minds the teen-aged poetess rowing her boat in the Bay of Bengal conceiving things and thoughts, all finally evolving into this poem. The rhythm and tune of this poem, characteristic only of the sea, denotes the physical presence of an observant poet in the sea, rowing to and fro with waves in a rocking boat. There have been poems in all languages written keeping the rhythm of moving things in mind, written in the tune of moving buses, trains, ships, boats, horses and running rivers. The Night Mail follows the movement of a train, Coromandel Fishers the movement of a swaying boat, The Highway Man the rhythmic tiot-tiotting of a trotting and galloping horse, Tennyson’s Brooke the gentle and uninterrupted flow of a mountain river reaching the forests and village hamlets and Wander Thirst follows the rhythm of a ship in the sea. It is a special branch of poetry which has not been much researched into.

ANNEXURE I: SPECIAL NOTE: SOME THOUGHTS ON SEA.11. Fisherman's Family Awaiting Return 19th Century Painting By Unknown.

‘The mind of a fisherman sitting on the bow of his boat is a kaleidoscope of thoughts- the beauty of the wind and water and light coming and going and mingling with the myriad miseries of his everyday life. Once, the sea was a very clean entity, except for the salt and remains of plant and marine life contained in it, which anyway sank to the bottom of the sea as sediments and came out again as oil after millions of years. Now it is littered with man’s spoils- plastics, oil spills, poisonous chemicals and nuclear waste deposits- and this broth which once gave birth to precious biological life may not do it again or sustain life anymore.’

‘The broad expanse of the sea, with the sun and moon and stars appearing like clock work in the horizon, creating regular tides and the harsh sunlight scorching and the soft moonlight soothing the weathered bodies of sailors at sea, have taken away the fear of depth from man and have brought men very close to their creator many millions of times in the sea. And there is brutality too in the soul of the sea, sending tsunamis landward, wrecking ships, destroying islands and carving away great chunks of land from her eternal lover, the shore.’

12. The eternal fascination for man By Vinayaraj.

The roar of the sea has provided perfect background noise for poets to compose poems through ages, making their thoughts kinetic, by imparting momentum through her constant motion. When we reach the sea shore, our true nature- the primitive traits hidden in our blood- come out and manifest in our behavior. Some run along the shore, some dive into the waves, some howl loudly and some kick waves as they come. Some build castles in the air sitting on sand and some weep remembering their sorrows, as they all are in the presence of their beloved consoling watching mothers. As John F. Kennedy noted, ‘all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean from whence we came; we have salt in our blood, we have salt in our sweat, we have salt in our tears, in the exact percentage.’

‘The sea is something that does not like to be restrained, something always tossing and restless, hiding even high mountains in great unfathomable depths, revealing only tops of those mountains here and there as islands situated between great distances’. The sea has its own serenity, calmness and majesty which beckon regular fishermen and occasional travellers to forget their miseries as long as they are enveloped in her protective wash of spray’. Without sea travels in his ship The Beagle, and research in the Galapagos Islands, Darwin could not have come up with the theory that man descended from the apes in the forests.

ANNEXURE II: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: FAMOUS WORKS ON SEA.13. A coconut glade by sea shore in Kerala By ReNiz.

Famous sea poems of the world.

Since the time of the famous Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer, there have been quite a number of famous poems on the sea. The most noted among them are The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) Samuel Taylor Coleridge, On The Sea (1817) John Keats, The Secret of the Sea (1850) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Sailor Boy (1861) Alfred Lord Tennyson, O Captain! My Captain! (1865) Walt Whitman, Forsaken Merman Matthew Arnold, A Ballad of Boding (1881) Christina Rossetti, Requiem(1887) and Christmas at Sea (1888) Robert Louis Stevenson, Crossing the Bar (1889) Alfred Lord Tennyson, A Sailors Song (1899) by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Wander Thirst by Gerald Gould and Sea Fever (1902) by John Masefield. Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage also contains magnificent cantos on the sea.

Classic sea novels, adventures and travelogues.

Novels, travelogues and adventures on sea are not few. They abound in numbers and it would take more lives to read them all. Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe 1719, James Cook’s The Journals of Captain Cook 1768-1779, Charles Darwin’s The Voyage of the Beagle 1839, Herman Melville’s White Jacket 1850 and Moby-Dick 1851, Victor Hugo’s The Toilers of the Sea 1866, Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 1870, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island 1883, Rudyard Kipling’s Captains Courageous 1896, Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim 1900, Jack London’s The Sea Wolf 1904, Rafael Sabatini’s The Sea-Hawk 1915, Ernest Shackleton’s The Last Antarctic Expedition of Shackleton 1919, Rafael Sabatini’s Captain Blood: His Odyssey 1922, Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki 1950, Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea 1952 and, of course, Peter Benchley’s Jaws 1974 are a noted few among the classic novels, travelogues and adventures written with sea as the background.

Classic films on sea adventure.

There are hundreds of movies made based on adventures, life, battles, disasters and calamities on seas. Since when movie was invented, before trains and cars, the sea was a favourite subject for movie makers. The number of magnificent sea movies are in hundreds so cannot be included here, for fear of doing the injustice of omitting many famous and beautiful ones.

The finest songs of Sarojini Naidu noted for musical quality and her books.

The finest songs of Sarojini Naidu based on their musical quality as selected by this writer are Indian Weavers, Palanquin Bearers, Coromandel Fishers and The Queen’s Rival. The published books by Sarojini Naidu are The Golden Threshold: 1905, The Bird of Time: 1912, The Broken Wing: 1917, Muhammad Jinnah: An Ambassador of Unity: 1916, The Sceptred Flute Posthumously: 1943, The Feather of the Dawn Posthumously: 1961 and The Indian Weavers Posthumously: 1971.

Coromandel Fishers was written by Sarojini Naidu in the 1920s. It’s one of the most famous and endeared songs in the English language. A primitive prototype rendering of this song was made with a crude tape recorder decades earlier, in 1984. In 2014, a home made video of this song was released. This third version is comparatively better. The next version, we hope, would be fully orchestrated. This song was originally part of the project PROPÈS INDIA or ‘Project For The Popularization of English Songs In India’, recorded from an English class by Mr. P S Remesh Chandran. Today it belongs to Bloom Books Channel’s Sing A Song Project for Children. It's free for reuse, and anyone interested can develop and build on it, till it becomes a fine musical video production, to help our little learners, and their teachers. Rushes of the original recordings were made available from the archives of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Our listeners mostly comprised of teachers and students who needed, and demanded, studio-versions with more clarity. Though beyond our limited resources, we release these new versions, for them. We thank them all for their support and goodwill. Why we, with only scanty resources, prepared these recordings in the first place and released them and made them mostly public domain can be read about in the article, 'My First English Recitation Videos Took Thirty Years To Produce By P S Remesh Chandran' here: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2014/05/058-my-first-english-recitation-videos.html

Indian Weavers was written by Sarojini Naidu in the 1920s. Besides being a great poetess, she was one of the leading figures of the Indian Independence Movement. This article therefore is also a lookout into what happened to the weavers of India after independence. Indian weavers who were once favorites in king’s homes to poor man’s huts are now pushed to extinction by governments, politicians, large textile mills and arrogant bureaucrats. Suppose Sarojini Naidu returns, and finds this? Read the full article here: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2017/07/076-indian-weavers-sarojini-naidu-poem.html July 2017

Also read The Life And Works Of Sarojini Naidu by P. S. Remesh Chandran.16. Life And Works Article Title By Sahyadri Archives.

‘It is impossible to tell whether Sarojini Naidu was a poet or a politician. She left her footprints in both fields and her achievements in poetry and politics make it impossible for us to select either one as her favourite field. From studying in England as a teenager to dying while at work in the UP Governor’s office in India as Governor, her life was one of the most vibrant tales of Indian women, stretching through nations and touching peoples in Asia, Europe, Africa and America.’ (Excerpt from the article). Read the full article here: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2017/06/075-life-and-works-of-sarojini-naidu.html June 2017

01 Article Title Image & Graphics By Adobe SP 02 Sustaining life in the planet By Cobber 17 03 A playful child at sea shore By Sailu.d18 04 Children are always happy in water By Biswarup Ganguly 05 Papa will be back soon. Child with mother By Biswarup Ganguly 06 Bondages as old as the sea By Biswarup Ganguly 07 Resting at home after work By Biswarup Ganguly 08 Kerala Fishermen launching boat By Prime Jyothi 09 Fishermen's catch in Bangladesh By Balaram Mahalder 10 Fishermen Life 1832 Painting By Carl Portmann 2 11 Fisherman's Family Awaiting Return 19th C Painting By Unknown 12 The eternal fascination for man By Vinayaraj 13 A coconut glade by sea shore in Kerala By ReNiz 14 Coromandel Fishers Video Title Image By Moon Sun 1981 15 Indian Weavers Video Title Image By Radio Free Barton 16 Life And Works Article Title By Sahyadri Archives 17 Article Title Image 2 & Graphics By Adobe SP 18 Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

18. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Author of several books in English and in Malayalam, mostly poetical collections, fiction, non fiction and political treatises, including Ulsava Lahari, Darsana Deepthi, Kaalam Jaalakavaathilil, Ilakozhiyum Kaadukalil Puzhayozhukunnu, Thirike Vilikkuka, Oru Thulli Velicham, Aaspathri Jalakam, Vaidooryam, Manal, Jalaja Padma Raaji, Maavoyeppoleyaakaan Entheluppam!, The Last Bird From The Golden Age Of Ghazals, Doctors Politicians Bureaucrats People And Private Practice, E-Health Implications And Medical Data Theft, Did A Data Mining Giant Take Over India?, Will Dog Lovers Kill The World?, Is There Patience And Room For One More Reactor?, and Swan, The Intelligent Picture Book.

This article is the fifth and concluding part of the book ‘Is Reformation Over For Hinduism?’ by P. S. Remesh Chandran, published by Amazon. The other parts are 1. The Degenerating Kerala Temples, 2. The Loudspeaker Criminality, 3. The Elephantine Injustice and 4. The Fireworks Fiasco. They expose the farce going on in Kerala temples in the name of religion. The original title for this series was ‘Mad Things Happening In The Name Of Religion’.

The good things in Hinduism the world accepts, the bad things the world rejects, and the uncertain things the world is suspicious of.

There are many good things in Hinduism as are there in any religion. There are many evils also in this religion which the world wants to see go. And there are a few things this religion exports like yoga which the people in other countries and the governments there are not yet certain whether good or bad. Hinduism being a way of life and not being a religion, and it being not shackled to any particular text or guru, you needn’t even be going to a temple to be a Hindu and the many good teachings in the Vedas are the good things in this religion. Human sacrifice, sati, child marriage, polygamy and widow remarriage ban are the evils that have already been sent away from this religion through steady reformation. Caste, varna, jati, waning of Hindu simplicity, capturing gods in stones, anti-beef campaigns to bring down domestic consumption of beef and boosting up of export, priests wanting women devotees to abandon clothes if possible inside temples, prohibiting women entry in temples, criminal use of loudspeakers, explosives and elephants in temples and the degrading dowry system are the vices still will not go away in spite of reformation.

1. THE GOOD THINGS IN HINDUISMHinduism is a way of life, not a religion.

02. A Temple Inside Angkor Wat Complex By Yeowatzup, Germany.

Hinduism is not a religion; it’s a way of life followed by people through centuries. Though there is historical evidence of pockets of Hindu way of life existing in other countries in Asia once, as a civilization and culture it is centred solely in India. In places like Angkor the evidence of earlier dominance still remains. The ancient texts of India do not say anything about Hinduism as being a religion. The name evolved later as a geographical indicator, denoting vast stretches of land on the two banks of the Indus River peopled by Aryans, Dravidians and Nomads. Rooted firmly in the culture and tradition of the people in the Indus Valley, their collective civilization made life in India more philosophical and spiritualistic than physical and materialistic.

There is historical evidence of a Hindu empire stretching to as far distant countries as Ceylon, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Burma, Thailand, Siam and Cambodia in the time of Emperor Bharata. He ruled vast stretches of land, his empire Bharatha Varsha comprising of Rathnadweepam, Sindhu, Nepaalam, Brahmadesam, Apaghanasdhanam, Syama Raajyam and Cambojam. Ratnadweepam was Ceylon, the present day Sri Lanka. Sindhu was the undivided India- the Land of the Indus River- which included till recently Pakistan and Bangladesh. Nepaalam was Nepal. Brahmadesham was Burma, renamed now as Myanmar. Apaghanasdhaanam was of course Afghanistan. Syaama Raajyam was Siam, the present day Thai Land. And Cambojam was Cambodia, where ruins of the largest temple complexes for Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu still remain. It must be noted that this region excluded only China and Tibet in this part of the world, and this emperor Bharatha must have had the back up of a very elaborate road system like the Romans had to administer to this vast region. It is true Bharatha was one of the mightiest of Hindu Emperors then and he had conquered all these lands as part of his empire expansion which every emperor did in those times. Hundreds of temples the relics of which remain as behemoth tourist attractions in those countries vouchsafe to the hold of Hinduism over these lands in the distant past. What would happen if India claims these lands as theirs now? Had Hinduism been as aggressive and invasive as many other religions in the world, the present day India- at least the Hindus there- would no doubt have claimed these countries as their own like China claims now Nepal, Burma, Tibet, Philippines and even Japan as theirs, without the least affecting the conscience of the world.

Hinduism not shackled to any particular text or central control.

Unlike Christianity and Islam, Hinduism is not shackled to any particular text written centuries earlier or to a hierarchical line of saints. Absence of a central body of control like a Pope’s or an Imam Council’s in other religions also prompts people in this religion to think things over by themselves and reach judgements on their own. This is exactly what Hinduism originally intended- to make people teach themselves, think themselves, and become wise in reaching judgements. Hinduism is also far older than Christianity or Islam. One most characteristic feature of Hinduism is it not being invasive and colonial like Christianity and Islam. It never invaded other countries, expanded boundaries unless through cultural exchanges, or plundered people in other countries. It of course endured attacks, invasions and tyrannies from Macedonians, Mongols, Moguls and the British, but remained passive throughout and absorbed everything. This resilience helped Hinduism survive as the third largest religion in the world after Christianity and Islam. There were constant exchanges of ideas, architecture and culture between the invaded and the invader and during centuries of these exchanges Hinduism always metamorphosed and grew. The political Hindu groups in India are now trying to stunt this reformation and growth. Their many recent legislations and actions alienated most of the people in other religions and most of the Hindus in India and abroad. These retrogressive actions by Hinduism in its birth place were a shock to the 90 crore (900 million) Hindu population of the world, with 82 percent of the population in India, 89 percent in Nepal and 52 percent in Mauritius. In the South Pacific and Caribbean countries, they are more than 38 percent of the population. Within the American, Canadian, Australian, German, African, Swiss, South East Asian and Arab borders also they are considerable in numbers. Everywhere there is a Hindu living, the actions of the Hindu self-proclaimed leaders in India are being questioned.

To be a Hindu, you needn’t even go to a temple.

04. Angkor Wat Temple Courtyard By Anandajoti.

Though it is not much older than 3000 years, people who make their earning out of Hinduism like to think that its origin was in prehistoric times. Anyone can like to think and believe anything. It is very simple to live a Hindu; you only need to live a selfless and clean life devoid of jealousy, hatred, lust and pride which most people of the world already does anyway. You needn’t worship one or any of the Three hundred and Thirty million Gods. You can worship the One God, in your mind, if you get time. You needn’t even go to a temple. It is that simple. But these parasitic gurus in Hinduism will tell you that you cannot live without the assistance of a guru because Hindu life is complex. It’s because gurus also have to live. It’s no different from the exploitative guild masters in Florence and Milan in the sixteenth century Italy who lived out hardworking craftsmen like Leonardo Da Vinci and Michael Angelo. When inexcusable things like gender discrimination or caste discrimination or dowry horrors are asked to be explained, these whole gendarmes of gurus will go silent. They will even go on keeping ritualistic silence for several days.

Being not temple-centered helped Hinduism survive.

Not needing even going to a temple for being a Hindu makes Hinduism different from Christianity and Islam. This not being temple-centred helped Hinduism in many ways. Its non temple-centeredness was a fact unknown to the invaders to India for a long time. Muslim invaders destroyed the great temples at Somanath and Benares, hoping Hinduism would vanish with them, like the Egyptian and Persian civilizations did during invasions. They were startled to see that Hindu civilization was the least affected by the destruction of these temples and did not vanish but remained strong. That spiritualistic civilizations may exist not based on temples was a new knowledge to them. It is vital for Hinduism to keep this non temple-centeredness. The wise people of the world do not want to see Hinduism vanish like the Egyptian and Babylonian civilizations. There is no denying the fact that Hinduism has been, and is the backbone of the social and political life of India and has been the driving force behind the unification of India. In this sense, it is also responsible for most of the evils in the social and political life of India. And there are not a few evils in Hinduism which simply will not go away.

05. Article Title 2 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP.

2. THE BAD THINGS IN HINDUISM

Vedic science not upgraded through European marriage.

All Vedic thought and science, which the philosophy of Hinduism heavily depends on have not been verified and validated through scientific methods. Except Bhagavat Gita, none of these texts claim they are divine revelations to demi-gods or even mortal men like Bible or Koran. Because humans wrote them, there must be human errors in them. Marrying Vedic science and technology with European science and technology had to have been the normal course taken by Hinduism. If they were convinced no upgradation through European marriage was needed and Vedic science was complete and self sufficient in itself, then there had to have been a long line of scientists, physicists and physicians bridging the conspicuous gap between Vedic times and modern day age science and philosophy in India which there is not.

A chasm between Vedic science and modern Hindu science and technology.

Millions of stars, galaxies and clusters and super clusters of galaxies taking their origins from specks of condensed matter exploding into the dialectical emptiness and activeness of an eternally expanding universe, and everything being held together by threads of gravitational forces, were indeed pre-conceived by ancient seers in the Upanishads as ‘the worlds being strung together by a thread by the inner controller’. But except an occasional Vivekanandan, C. V. Raman and Srinivasa Ramanujan, who were there to further these scientific and philosophical thoughts? Why was there no one to advance the anatomical and surgerical practices of Charaka? Why no one advanced and updated the physician’s craft of Susrutha? Or was it an all-complete, comprehensive and up-to-date science of theirs in their opinion? What did Upanishads say about unconventional sources of energy and environmental cleansing? Are these ancient sciences not to be updated and furthered? We can understand what ancient texts say about animism and tree worship but what new solutions to massive deforestation, climate change and ozone depletion they have to offer? Rama may have had superhuman powers and Ravana may have flown aero planes but where are their equivalent scientific counterparts in the after-centuries in Hinduism? What ancient texts will a Hindu government dare quote to permit genetic modification of farmers’ seeds in India or artificial insemination by other races in the planet?

Caste, varna and jati are the Maya or Illusion defined in Hindu texts.

In centuries when work was the most important aspect in Indian life, not worship, caste system was born out of distribution of work. Intellectuals became Brahmanas, protector-soldiers became Kshatriyas, merchants and businessmen became Vaisyas, and toilers of land engaged in manual labour Sudras. Those who did each of these works were absorbed into the respective caste. Then castes began to be restructured based on birth to suit a few who did not like to do work and soon there was conflict. Special rights, privileges, lineages and descendancies began. It finally came to being born into a caste did not mean one had to do the designated work. To vindicate this injustice the real exploiters- the Brahmanas- came up with new explanations like caste system comprising of varnam and jati and the caste into which you were born being preordained based on your behavior in a past life. In vedic times, varna was flexible and was determined according to profession; when one’s profession changed, his varna also changed and in the long run the jati also. In post-Vedic times, jati was made a fixed thing determined only by birth; one could never change the jati he was born into. Hinduism was broad and intricate in those times as a sect and one could not easily identify where he really belonged in this vast sea of segregations. And human beings needed to belong somewhere. To satisfy this craving and to accommodate him somewhere was this compartmentalization called jati created. Reading all these, we will wonder are these not the Maya or Illusion defined in Hindu texts!

Subdivide a religion into several jatis and throw a few to the wolves in times of peril.

There is an absurd belief among some scholars that the caste system which was an evolution of jati prevented Hinduism from being obliterated through conversions into other religions like Islam and Christianity like many religions and civilizations vanished in other countries due to massive conversions by invaders. This belief is centred on the paradoxical fact that if it is not your jati that is harmed, you are not concerned. If it is other jatis being wiped out, not yours, you do not care or stop life. It is only when your particular jati is harmed that you are troubled. This unique indifference to what happens to other jatis in the same religion during invasions and conversions helped, according to these scholars, the overall survival of Hinduism and the communal life’s going on, at the expense of the elimination of a few jatis in this process. This simply means subdividing the religion into several jatis and throwing a few to the wolves during times of peril helped Hinduism survive. Knowing not this bizarre feature of this religion, the Muslim invaders wondered how Hinduism could survive their many massive attacks.

Caste is the most widely used electoral weapon in India.

Tired of the discriminations in the Hindu caste system, Dalit reformer Dr. B. R. Ambedkar converted 300,000 of his followers to Buddhism in the post-independent India. Considering the severity of caste discrimination in the modern age Hinduism, if such massive conversions do not take place now, it’s only because equally discriminative caste systems exist in Islam and Christianity also in India. No religion in India is caste-free. Even the Arya Samaj is caste-ridden now. Though India has been modernized and westernized now, and though caste means less in some areas in some states, for millions of people in India caste still determines what jobs, friends and brides they get. Hinduism created the caste system and it is Hinduism’s job to see it go. But caste system or jati will not go away that simply, because it is being widely used by political parties in India as an effective electoral weapon to collect votes. A candidate will always belong to the major jati in that constituency. No political party, including the two major communist parties in India which have been functioning now for more than a hundred years, is shy of using caste as an electoral weapon. They preach communism, socialism and democracy but the working of caste begins with the selection of their candidate. In fact, nothing but caste determines the candidate and his future preferences if he wins.

Why don’t temples open doors to all?

Many Hindu temples are not open to all in spite of all the reformation that has been and Hinduism being considered a national religion of India. A famous playback singer from Kerala, Mr. K. J. Jesudas, who was born a Christian but who claims to be a Hindu in belief, was denied entry in the famous Guruvayoor temple in Trichur District in Kerala even while his numerous devotional songs being aired non-stop through temple loudspeakers throughout Kerala. Some people do ask if he is not contented enough to worship this particular god inside his mind, instead of going for this charade of writing to temple authorities for permission to enter. Another temple, the famous Sabarimala temple in Pathanamthitta District, fought fiercely in the Supreme Court of India for prohibiting entry of women between the ages 12 to 50. The apex court ruled it was anti-constitutional to prohibit women of a particular age group entry and that temples shall be open to all believers regardless of gender. When this Supreme Court ruling came out, the two major castes in Hinduism in Kerala- the Nairs and the Ezhavas- led by their respective organizations Nair Service Society (NSS) and Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam agitated in a 10000-strong demonstration in Changanasserry on 07th October 2018 Sunday, demanding review of this judgement! They had better agitated against the cursed dowry system in their religion against which they are criminally silent.

Worshipping dogs as deities but still no entry to humans.

Many other temples do not permit entry of low caste Hindus but still there is a temple in Kannur District in North Kerala where they permit entry of dogs and worship them as deity! There are even twin statues of dogs at the entrance to this temple!! Whether permitted or not, dogs do regularly pass through temples and lie there. The Supreme Court specifically stated that ‘Hinduism is a religion that has no single founder, no single scripture and no single set of teachings, but preaches and propagates the collective wisdom of centuries’. But who cares! Article 25(2) of the Constitution of India permits temple entry to all sections of Hindus, regardless of being women, men or children. But temple authorities are still fighting against gender-justice, not for gender equality. Temple authorities are against democratic courts weighing religious customs; perhaps a theocratic court can in their opinion, if it comes into existence, which they hope some day soon will happen like the ones the Muslims established in their sister nation of Pakistan.

A fierce fight is going on in the Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple in Trivandrum in Kerala over the dress code for women who go there. The temple authorities want women to wear saris or dhotis where at least their shoulders and abdomens and backs would be visible to them to feast upon. But women want to wear the all-covering and world-popular Churidar in which no part of their body except perhaps the neck and arms would be visible to anyone. Because the males in this temple’s administration cannot that simply let go their ages-long privilege to view and enjoy female body, they fought absurdly fiercely and this fight reached the Supreme Court of India. Temple authorities are divided on this issue and the progressive-minded among them want women to be allowed to wear Churidar inside the temple, but the obnoxiously obstinate mules in the committee want to enjoy at least their abdomens and shoulders. What can we call these neurotics by who want to drag things back to the darkness of the Thirteenth Century? When asked if they want to live in the thirteenth century and refuse to allow women to wear all-covering clothes in temples, then why they use modern things like electric lights, video cameras and loudspeakers in the temple, they have no answer. They just want to continue to enjoy women! These Stygian minds cannot abandon personal possessions like watches, laptops, mobile phones, cars and crocodile shoes as befitting thirteenth century priests, but want women devotees to abandon clothes if possible inside temples!!

The world is watching this show curiously to see how the supposed Hindu leaders in India, if there are any, react to this Glasnost and Perestroika going on in temples. One of the most fundamentalist Muslim countries in the world- Saudi Arabia- is opening all hitherto-closed doors to women. The markedly Hinduist ruling regime in the most openly democratic country in the world- India- is closing all hitherto-open doors to women. What religious contradiction and absurdity!

Anti-beef campaigns to bring down domestic consumption of beef and boost up export.

Meat is the main menu of people through ages. Red meat or beef is the most eaten food article in the world which the most helped in abating the hunger of the world. For centuries, Indians and Hindus have been eating beef and fish: their scriptures did not deny them these easily available items in their menu. After a party man Mr. Narendra Modi became Prime Minister of India, the Hindu zealots in India suddenly found they have no major issue at hand to war about after the Ayodhya Sri Rama Temple issue lost steam. They also found that only bringing huge amounts of foreign currency to India would make their personal dreams about the country possible. So they all of a sudden began to quote texts and there was soon a tide of anti-beef legislation throughout India. Fearing the attacks of Hindu anti-beef goons, domestic consumption of beef dramatically dwindled and India became the largest beef-exporting country in the world. India’s beef export value steeply rose to 3 billion US Dollars in 2017. The world watched in fear these anti-beef legislations, and the attacks and killings continuing in parallel to India’s rise in beef exports. Foreign currency flowed to India to be spent at will by Hindu zealots while millions of people were deprived of their main diet. Even Iran must have wondered how such communal hooliganism and pseudo religious zeal could be generated in a country within such a short span of time! Beef export was pushed to being the most foreign-currency-earning enterprise in India. It was proved beyond doubt to the world that Hinduism was concerned not about killing the cattle or turning the world vegetarian but about bringing foreign money. The Soviet Communists who exported wheat sending Siberia to hunger were more considerate!

The world seeing for the first time the new face of Mercantile Hinduism.

The world viewed with horror these massive anti-beef crusades in India following the ascension to power of Hinduist politicians, accompanied by acrimonious slogans, riotous parades and killings throughout the country in the name of beef, carried out with the full support of the executive, legislature and judiciary of India. The world soon learned that it was an injudicious trick to lower domestic consumption of beef and maximize export. The world was seeing for the first time the new face of Mercantile Hinduism.

Dowry system: India’s shame before the world.

The status of girl children has become an important issue in Hinduism. A girl child is looked down upon by many as a burden and curse because sending a girl away in marriage is heavily expensive due to the dowry system. In every caste and jati, so many girls remain at home, unable to be sent away in marriage. Inability to send a girl child away due to lack of money and millions of parents going bankrupt without a house or land after daughters’ marriages is very common in India. Besides, kerosene-burning of brides after marriage due to insufficient dowry is increasing alarmingly. It is an insult to humanity which should stop.

Why should one who does not have his own income marry?

Marrying off young girls was a custom in Hinduism in the past and these children had no security in their future homes. To assure this security was the dowry system introduced. Dowry acted as a shield to the new bride in her new home. It entitled a woman to enter her husband’s home with her own wealth. Even after child marriages stopped, dowry system continued shamelessly. We can understand accepting gifts as a token of love, given by the girl’s parents, relatives, friends and neighbors but commanding it and demanding it is out of custom, out of law. What happens in Hindu India today is ‘demanding money, land, house, gold and car for accepting a girl as bride, increasing these demands after marriage, finally killing the bride for not meeting these demands, and going unpunished by the administrative, legal and judicial system’. In most cases the brides are doused with kerosene and burned to death. The groom’s family explains that she set fire to herself and that it was suicide. In some cases the brides are forced to suicide by in-laws and husband’s relatives. After the bride’s death the husband remarries and gets his next dowry anyway. The only change in dowry deaths in India is, since the disappearance of kerosene from market, now it is gas deaths.

Bride-burning: the national Hindu pastime.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, there were 8,233 dowry murders in India reported in 2012 alone, with 93 million cases pending trial in courts. This means one dowry death every hour in India. It is not consoling that not all were Hindu crimes. Standing behind Afghanistan, Pakistan and Congo Republic, India is now the world’s fourth most dangerous country for a woman. Under the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, dowry is a criminal offense, but no one minds. Government looks the other way when dowries are paid. Police officers are reluctant to prosecute grooms’ families for demanding dowries because the helpless brides’ families also will have to be prosecuted under this law. Government which highlights its Girl Child Protection Policy is mute when brides are burnt for want of dowry. Cabinet ministers, parliament members and top level bureaucrats who enacted these laws and are sworn to enforce them daily attend marriages where huge dowries are paid and brides wear kilos of gold. The hundreds of Hindu leaders, who roam the world in luxury airplanes, asked why they can’t do anything against dowry system, will divert the subject by pointing out that India is already beginning to run regular shuttle services between Earth and Mars and is emerging as the biggest economy in the world.

Inheritance is the key behind the dowry issue.

In patriarchal Hindu society, immobile parental and ancestral wealth like lands and houses were given to the son to ensure the future welfare of the parents in their old age, and mobile wealth like gold, jewels, cows and money were given to the daughter who went away to live in another house with her husband. Dowry was considered, and accepted too, as a substitute for inheritance. We do see in matriarchal societies the opposite- the groom giving cattle and money to the bride’s family to get her hand. This custom in the Hindu society was what also led to the dominance of the son and the killing of the girl child when she was born, resulting in to every 10,800 boys there being only an unsettlingly disproportionate 10,000 girls in India. What hardens the attitude behind dowry is this mode of passing of parental and ancestral wealth to children. Equal distribution of wealth among children may, someday, unwind the system of dowry. But still the question of whether a son-in-law would look after the bride’s parents like a son does remains.

Hindu scriptures say gifting a bride, not purchasing.

Hindu scriptures say nothing about a groom or bride being purchased. They only say the bride should be gifted to a groom and uses the very phrase ‘kanyadan’, ‘kanya’ meaning ‘virgin’ and ‘dan’ meaning ‘gifting’. Where does gifting mean purchasing, or selling? If dowry is practiced in obedience to scriptures, why don’t the groom and bride fast on their wedding day as the scriptures say they should? Why do they devour the best feast of their life on that very day instead?

Will God stay there to be captured in stone?

One basic condition for Hindu worship in temples is God is present there in physical form to be worshipped, captured in stone or wood. Without a physically existing deity, Hindu worship is not possible, unless we are worshipping the Cosmic Demon ‘Brahma Rakshassu’. If you know you are going to be captured in stone, will you stay there without a struggle for being captured? Do you think god is that foolish, more foolish than man? In fact, God has nothing of man’s foolishness but all of his wisdom. He fled, before being captured in stone, before being forced to incarnate into a statue. The intricacies of the characteristics with which each position and pose of the deities associate itself, helping the worshipper to identify easily with each, is nothing compared to the simple fact that a god cannot be shrunk into a stone unless man defies the theory of gravity and has powers superior to his creator. God created planets, earth, water, sky, animals, birds, reptiles, man, star systems, and the universe. But he never created a wall or a house, not because he did not have the technology for but he chose not to. Does anyone think He will be content to reside inside a walled-in temple? One of the most enlightened Hindus ever- Rabindranath Tagore- explored this situation of if God is not in the temple then where he is, in one of his famous poems, Leave This Chanting. So, if God is not a separate being but is in oneness with man and residing within us, then why should there be a statue of stone to worship? True, ‘a people’s religion is their own thing. It is their land, and those are their gods. It belongs to them, and to no one else. It is their concern and not others’, unless they try to force it upon others. But capturing a god in stone and imprisoning him inside walls…..?

Where did Hindu simplicity go?

Hindu scriptures permit only simple living: light clothing, scant food, frugal living. The most projected image of Hinduism in India today is their Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s who wears a 15,00,000 rupee coat with gold threads woven into as his name. Is not this the ostentation and vanity of the newly rich condemned as vices in Hinduism? Didn’t he himself claim proudly that he was once a very poor man with no money who cleaned tables and glasses in a village tea shop? Where do these pompous little men of opportunism lead Hinduism into? We are reminded of that most interesting character and the Father of the Nation, Mohanlal Karamchand Gandhi who once said he was proud of being born and living a Hindu, visiting the Queen of England in her Buckingham Palace wearing plain loin clothes and more impressing the world than Mr. Narendra Modi. We must also note that all former Prime Ministers of India were Hindus and almost all of them came from wealthy families- with enough wealth even to ask the British Administration in the Pre-Independence India if they would sell the country if not give it freedom- but they dressed themselves in simple and cheap clothes. And there were also the simple and light-hearted men who were the Presidents of India who also dressed modestly. Coming from wealthy families, they never needed to show ostentation and vanity to impress people. According to stories, the Nehru family was immensely rich even before Motilal Nehru’s time, but the Nehrus including Jawaharlal, Indira and Rajiv dressed elegantly but simply. Indira Gandhi’s saris won international acclaim and even became somewhat India’s international symbol. Their dresses never became question marks on the conscience of the nation. Their dresses never became a shame to the Hindu religion.

Even Vikramaditya would not have dared to wear fifteen lakh rupee coats among people.

Even the wealthiest of emperors like Vikramaditya or Chandragupta in the ancient India would not have dared walking among people wearing fifteen-lakh rupee coats. Chanakya would immediately have asked where the money came from and demanded an immediate execution. That is what Hinduism was, and should be. The images the modern Indian Hindu leaders project have no correlation with Hinduism at all. Their images fits well with the New Age Mercantile Hinduism. There is this story of Chanakya, one of the greatest politico-economic philosophers of the world and Teacher- Prime Minister to Emperor Chandra Gupta, who lived in a simple hut outside the capital. When a visitor arrived at night to see him for a personal matter, he was going through papers brought from office reading them under an oil lamp. No sooner the visitor announced the purpose of his visit than Chanakya put out that lamp and lighted another. Asked why, he answered oil for the first lamp was purchased with nation’s money to attend to only matters of the nation! Oil for the second lamp was purchased with own money and it alone could be used for discussing matters pf personal nature. Texts in Hinduism are rich with examples of this kind, instructing how a nation should be run, how kings and their prime minister should behave and dress, and how they should live. Hinduism being a way of life and not a well constituted religion it should be lived by way of one’s life. Their texts tell them human form is the final achievement after several births and deaths as birds and beasts and insects, and is the ultimate qualifying test for permanent release from material form. So it should be lived simple and humble to qualify for the final release that is Moksha. The Hindus of India perfectly well know this and know whether their kings, prime ministers and leaders are living in accordance with this ideal or living steeped in condemned vices like vanity, ostentation, pomp, pleasure and riches. They expertly identify the bogus from the original at one look and laugh inwardly, wondering how many lives these creatures are going to lie head down in that tree of births and deaths, screaming for permanent release. No leader can teach a Hindu how to live except through his own way of living.

Waiting in jails for theocracy to arrive.

Spiritual masters in Hinduism known as gurus going to jail for criminal, economic and sexual offences is not news in India now and during the current decade their numbers increased dramatically. After their political organization Bharatiya Janata Party came to power a couple of times, they already have begun to think Hindu theocracy has finally arrived. Their trials, sentencing and imprisonment brought to light how deep they were into thinking national treasuries, banks, government departments and women devotees were their personal possessions. When arrested, they tried to interpret it as a challenge against Hinduism and their followers took to the streets and also had to be arrested and removed by force on several occasions, after they had burned enough number of cars, buses and buildings and killed enough number of people to abate their ‘Hindu Fury’. The faces in the pictures of these rioters in the streets reminded more of half-developed ugly brutes than genteel Hindus. Gurus who were once considered infallible in Hinduism are not now. They are now viewed suspiciously by everyone including their followers, except by other gurus in government. Their political counterparts also are on the continuous run. Not a few immensely affluent Indians who once wielded unlimited political clout and controlled even governmental financial institutions as their own are now living in other countries where their extradition orders for returning them to India for undergoing trial for economic offenses sought by the India Government are pending in law courts there. The Hindu rule of India has only begun. The world is yet to see how many of their spokesmen, money men and political gurus are going to flee the country in future years after amassing ill gotten wealth and brought back for trial.

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3. YOGA: THE UNCERTAIN THING IN HINDUISM

The master-piece export from Hinduism to the world: yoga.

The master-piece export from Hinduism to the world is yoga. Once yoga was territory-possessive, i.e., it was limited to India. Now it is not. It is permeating the world. Hundreds of Hindu missionaries live abroad and teach people the way of yoga. People there are willing to pay large amounts to these yoga teachers as fees for a new experience in self-liberation, relaxation and exercise. It is estimated that five million people regularly do yoga in the USA alone, and it is spreading. It has now become the most-welcomed Hindu practice in the western world. In India, it has already been made compulsory in schools, for good or for bad. In the US, schools now teach yoga from the Kinder Gardten. In the UK, yoga is spreading like wild fire. So many people in these countries, India included, still view yoga suspiciously. The world is still uncertain whether yoga is good or bad or dangerous.

Isolating soul from body and mind and linking it to universal spirit.

Yoga is isolating soul from body and mind and linking it to universal spirit. It is a training to liberate one’s self from the confines of corpuscular flesh and come to being in oneness with the divine. The psychic power thus unchained from physical confinement is made use of to soothe, pacify and invigorate the soul- a perfectly balanced exercise to the psyche as well as the physique. Every movement in it has a corresponding movement connected to the worship of a god. The Master God of Yoga is Lord Shiva, the supreme dancer, who is also called Yogeeswara. Traced to its origins, yoga is inseparable from Hindu religion. Hadta Yoga which centres on psychic powers originating from spine is the most dangerous. But it is still less dangerous than Transcendental Meditation which some teach to the withering away and fall of many. One may ask won’t all these be disastrous in the west. Only time can answer. The east is timeless anyway, unlike the west. In India, like H. G. Wells pointed out, time is cosmic. They have only morning, noon and night. And waiting is a pleasure, not a torture for the Indians. But in the west, time is machine-made and measured in seconds. If it is a 7.19 train that is important in your life, do not go for these.

Christian organizations are suspicious of yoga anyway, but many Christian preachers do it regularly, secretly. The church alleges every yoga teacher is a Hindu missionary in disguise and yoga is very near to Hinduism and almost occultism. In reply, yoga teachers say they are only teaching the world exercising and only helping the western people relax.

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4. REFORMATION A BYWORD IN HINDUISM

Protestantism and Reformation always bywords in Hinduism.

There has always been unending reformation in Hinduism. Reformation is a byword in Hinduism. In the modern day age also there have been dramatic as well as imperceptible changes going on in Hinduism. There has also been going on raucous talk about Hinduism not needing any reformation but only need going back to its roots. Anyway, protestant movements have always been there in Hinduism, some aimed at cleansing it, some aimed at mildly disagreeing with some practices while compromising with others and some demanding thorough overhauling, ultimately splitting it and forming new religions. In protest thus was Buddhism born and in protest was born Arya Samaj. Dayanand Saraswati, Rama Krishna Parama Hamsar, Swami Vivekanandan, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Dr. Sarvappalli Radhakrishnan and many others like them continued Hindu reformation to the twentieth century. Dr. Radhakrishan through his many books led Hinduism and India ‘Towards A Modern World’, to borrow the title of one of his books.

All reformation in Hinduism has been for purifying and cleansing it. The first to vanish was the practice of human sacrifice in temples. Next to go was shedding the blood of goats and cocks over deities. These did not go willingly but needed the force of education and enlightenment to make them go. Then there went away other evils like sati, child marriage, polygamy and widow remarriage ban, thanks to the relentless work of reformists. The vices, viles and evils accumulated through centuries in Hinduism were endless and only a few could be made to go away through reformation. Many including the caste system were not quite willing to go.

When was not there a reformist movement in Hinduism?

English education and the subsequent cultural renaissance in India during the British-occupation saw the formation of many Hinduist reformist movements. Brahmo Samaj started in 1828 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy opposed child marriage, sati and widow remarriage ban in Hindu society. The Manav Dharma Sabha started in 1844 by Mehtaji Durgaram Manchharam fiercely condemned exorcism of ghosts through incantations and magic which were the main sources of revenue for Hindu priests till then. The main criticism against this organization which led to its premature fall after eight years of functioning was, though it criticized the caste system it did not criticize it as fiercely as criticizing the exorcism of ghosts. Paramahansa Mandali started in 1849 by Dadoba Panderung was the first well-defined Hindu reformist organization which condemned in clear terms God’s supposed revelations to man, deity worship, Brahmin supremacy and caste system. Veda Samaj established in 1864 by Keshab Chandra Sen also condemned caste system. Prarthana Samaj or Prayer Society started in 1867 by Dr. Atmaram Panderung not only followed the ideals of the earlier movements but shocked Hinduism also by accepting all religions and committing itself to the One God concept. The Arya Samaj started in 1875 by Dayananda Saraswati took untouched lower caste Hindus into its fold and stood for women education which the conservative Hindus of that time condemned as a vile. Dayanand Saraswati even rejected puranas and epics as nonsense, and urged people to rely more on the original Vedas, arguing that caste system did not exist in the Vedic times.

When people were in doubt in Hinduism they turned to the Vedas.

When people were in doubt about the conceptions and customs in Hinduism they turned to the Vedas, because they are where the first and original values and practices in Hinduism were recorded. They still do. In Vedic times low castes and higher castes had no discrimination at all between; caste was then a flexible social system. Born into low caste did not impede people from holding higher offices or changing professions. In fact, most of the divines revered in Hinduism- some of them even incarnations of Vishnu- were low castes or those who frequently changed profession. Of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu, only Vamana was Brahmin. All other incarnations were low-caste, half-caste, outcaste or non human. Krishna was brought up by cattle herders and Rama found friends among forest-dwellers. Rama won the critical war against Ravana with the inevitable help from apes. Some incarnations like the fish, turtle, boar and the half-man-and-half-lion were not even humans but just animals. Even people like Vasishta who were of questionable births officiated as rishis during Vedic times. Author of Mahabharata, Vyasa, was a fisherman and Ramayana’s composer Valmiki was a tribal hunter. Changing profession also was frequent. Parashurama was a Brahmin who turned Kshatriya, and Viswamitra was a Kshatriya who turned Brahmin. So, non-discrimination on caste and interchangeability in profession were taken for granted in the Vedic times.

Rigveda did not even mention caste system.

There were also people of different professions within a single family in Vedic times. Caste system was not as rigid as to insist on a particular caste to follow a particular profession. There was not even mention of caste system then in the Rigveda. The only part in Rigveda which mentions caste system was found to be added later. We will wonder why this particular part named Purusha Sukta was added later and why the caste system which only had a loose structure and minor importance in Vedic times was assigned greater importance and gained its space and momentum later in this religion: it was to preserve group identity and professional integrity in times of encounters with invading and marauding tribes and traditions. Some scholars even suggest that this re-identification of caste with profession in the post-Vedic times saved Hinduism and kept it intact in times of invasions and occupations.

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5. WHERE DOES HINDUISM LEAD INDIA TO?

Temptation to found a theocracy like in Pakistan.

In British India, a Hindu revolution meant nationalist movement, reformation and upholding of people’s basic rights such as the rights to food, free expression and choice of religion. In modern day free India, a Hindu revolution means theocratic movement denying or limiting these three rights to people in the other religions. The reason for this change is plain: the leadership moved from lofty national personages to lowly narrow-minded politicians. What Hindu leadership was there in India was hijacked by zealotic organizations and re-shaped as Bharatiya Janata Party. A religion is only as good as the people who follow it. The former leaders used Hinduism to drive out the British and form a Free India; the latter uses it to build a Hindu Nation on Free India, like India’s sister state Pakistan built an Islamic Nation there. The temptation to build a theocracy was always there but checked by democratic enlightenment for a time. ‘If Pakistan could do it, then why can’t we build a Hindu theocracy in India’ is the ambition of the present Hindu leadership in India. Their ambition is not unifying the human race and the entire world as their sacred texts teach but unifying the entire Hindu people in India as a political force to institute the next theocracy in Asia.

The coming not up of one temple will not end the world.

To achieve this objective of reshaping India on religious, communal and caste lines, they manipulate texts like Bhagavat Gita and Manusmrithi which the great masses of India are blissfully happy to live without and outside of. The people know how to live decently and remain Hindus even without these texts. That is the irony in the Indian Hindu situation which makes the Indian religious and spiritual outlook different from that of people in other religions. They can do without these texts and live decently. The self-proclaimed leaders in Hinduism quote from ancient texts continuously and warn people of doom but people won’t listen or mind. The ‘leaders’ even tried to warn people that the coming not up of a Rama Temple at Ayodhya will be the end of the world. These ‘leaders’ in their ignorance made the same mistake the Muslim invaders made, of forgetting Hinduism is not temple-centred and destroying or not coming up of one temple will not affect this religion. Think about what would happen in Christianity and Islam if Pope was dethroned and Ka’aba made to vanish! But that will not happen with Hinduism as it is neither temple-centred nor centrally controlled.

Hindu organizations do not even understand the real problems.

The Hindu organizations in India and abroad have not even begun to understand the real problems in this religion today. We will laugh when we read about what a famous Hindu website notes as the most important problems in Hinduism: ‘Lakhs of Indian Hindus converting to Christianity and Islam ‘without a cause’, Hindu girls marrying Christians and Muslims in waves of Love Jihad, government suppressing Hindu organizations and taking over Hindu temples, people defaming Hindu saints in their speeches and articles, western influence coming over Hinduism, and malpractices going on during temple festivals!’ They are not conscious of problems which the world considers important in this religion. This Hindu megaphone does admit one thing anyway: that ‘35% illiterates in the world are in India who live in the most corruption-ridden country in the world, where paying money would get you priority passes to see the deity during rush hours without waiting, and you are free to deposit hordes of black money into temple coffers to corrupt even god.’

Religion becoming more personal, not impersonal for global Hindus.

The weak and untrained Hindu leaders in India try to address the internal as well as the international issues they face by trying to globally institutionalizing Hinduism through forming vain and worthless things like World Hindu Parliaments, International Hindu Councils, etc, etc, etc, instead of driving bold and straight campaigns to wipe out the evils we elaborated here. They think they can gain an international footage and have a say in things if they bring the global Hindu also under their yolk, meaning more resources in hand. They fail to understand that institutionalism is the very thing the global Hindu is warned against and learned against. The pundits whom Indian Hindus send to speak at these platforms elaborate on the past achievements and glory of Hinduism which no one wants to hear, instead of telling to the intelligent and world-wise audiences there how much intelligence is left in Hinduism to weigh international issues and give advise. After these speeches the audience loathes these dark minds from India. The people there easily recognize the fact that these pundits who live in cloistered mansions and have no knowledge of the progressive outlook of the people abroad and the intellectual achievements and the scientific progress Europe went through after the World War Second, are trained only in suppressing people through saffron-painted institutions and do not make out that time is well past for institutionalism. They also recognize that these pundits do not understand that religion is becoming more personal, not impersonal for the globalized Hindu. The global Hindu does know that practicing Hinduism without an institution is challenging, but he learns to do just that.

Yoga is the diversion technique thrown abroad to escape from vital questions.

The global Hindu is asked many questions everyday about the caste discrimination, girl child killings, untouchability, honor attacks and dowry deaths in Hinduism but they understand they cannot turn to Indian Hindu leaders and institutions for answers, for they have none. Therefore they self-teach, find answers and explain conditions and situations in Hinduism to the world. That is how the global Hindu emerges and works independent of Indian Hindu institutions and leaders. If a 3000-year old religion cannot address issues but continue to create new ones like beef ban, moral policing and bride killings, why turn to it for answers? The intelligence quotient of the present Indian Hindu leaders is zero and the global Hindu knows they can never address any of these issues. He also knows that he is now the future. The global Hindu has recognized that Yoga is the very diversion technique the Hindu leaders threw abroad to escape from answering vital questions which are of concern to the world. He is now preparing himself to meet other diversions as issues become more under fire.

Global Hindu emerges as the future of Hinduism.

What Hinduism needs is someone to place it on an international perspective and put it to the tests of the modern world. There is a great chasm between an intelligent Hindu and an illiterate Hindu and the world appeals to the intelligent and educated Hindu to explain Hinduism in modern contexts and continue the reformation that has always been in Hinduism to preserve it for the world as a good way of life. It is predictable that the global Hindu would assume this role and bridge the gap. The basics of reality explained in the pre-mathematical model of cosmology presented in Vedic times stood unquestioned for fifteen centuries which modern physics is questioning now. The world wants to see the intelligent and educated Hindu to re-explain this model as convincingly as Einstein explained his Theory of Relativity to the world and Newton did his Laws of Motion. Einstein and Tagore in that sequestered room with closed doors in Berlin, Germany must have been discussing this very thing of why the Hindus can’t re-explain and re-establish their science. Morons who take to the streets immediately when they hear someone has eaten beef cannot do this, nor can the countless research organizations and councils established by Hinduism with more boorish academics on the board than there are mad fanatics on the road. It is Hindu science and philosophy under fire and the world already knows the answers are going to come not from India.

Emigrants keep a segment of the Hindu population clean.

In this sense, the future of Hinduism rests in the educated and intelligent Hindu families that have been migrating to Europe, America, Britain, Canada and Germany and their children growing up there. Absorbing the more democratic and atheistic cultures in these countries, they are growing up with broader outlooks and wider universal perspectives. Even while looking down upon the heinous religious crimes committed by Hindus in India and living in shame for that, they view this religion not as a condemned and hopeless one but one which can still be salvaged. As understood from their response in internet channels and social media on specific issues concerning human race and concerning Hinduism- some places the fanatical Hindu leaders in India are not literate and savvy enough to cope with and master- they are thinking about separating the Hindus in India and abroad from the yokes of the rotten Hindu leadership and theocracy in India, and place this religion at the cross-roads of world civilization. They know those who live in darkness cannot lead the enlightened and, no one can picture Hinduism in bright lights before the world when it emits only a poor light, and also that it is now Greeks vs. Romans in Hinduism, but they will try anyway. Unless someone takes a stand now, there will be no stand at all for anyone to take in the future. The migrated Indians are maintaining a life devoid of caste discrimination, girl child killings and dowry anyway, thus at least keeping a segment of the Hindu population clean. Therefore it is better them be the future of Hinduism in the world.

Indianness is an absurd term coined by Indian Hindus to keep at bay the Hindus abroad.

One of the main pillars of Hinduism- the Hindus migrated or born and brought up abroad- have well incorporated themselves into the culture, language and traditions there. They identify themselves well with the language, law, food and festivals there and even use the same accents. They consider themselves as naturalized citizens with Indian origins, not Indians abroad. Western Hindus’ lack of respect for Indian Hindus and their notorious gurus is famous. Even while keeping a few Indian customs which they understand to be dear, they are the least worried about keeping any Indianness which they know is an absurd term coined by inferior Hindus in India to differentiate them from Hindus living abroad. The Hindu culture as practiced by the live-by-Hinduism gurus in India, they know, is something they left behind like soiled socks. Sometimes they may feel some sadness and inadequacy in being disorganized but would soon remind themselves of the shame Rajneesh and the central Hindu leaderships like his brought to the whole America and Hindu community. Being good readers and knowing history, they know it is better and safe to live disorganized rather than having central Hindu leaderships.

09. Article Title 6 Image & Graphics By Adobe SP.

6. INFLUX OF FOREIGN TOURISTS TO INDIAForeign travellers to India spread the good and shed the evil in Hinduism.

Besides the migration and settling of the global Hindu, the influx of foreign tourists to India familiarizes Hinduism abroad and keeps and spreads the good things in Hinduism. The thousands of foreigners going to India for studying Hindu practices or for seeing how they live in India or just for the thrill of travelling as a tourist through the country which gave birth to Hinduism take so many things back home in mind and character which remain with them for a long time, influencing and inspiring the people around them in their own lands. Many good things in Hinduism become endeared to foreigners thus. These foreigners who have travelled through the world and have a balanced judgement on what to preserve and what to shed preserve and spread the good things in Hinduism. They are the new ambassadors of Hinduism to the world. Hindu goodness they spread and Hinduist evils come under criticism through them throughout the world. It is guarantee that the goodness and truthfulness of Hinduism will be preserved abroad even while the whole India becomes under the evil grip of Hindu zealotry.

Unexpected new things a foreign traveller learns in India.

Foreigners going to India are attracted by ayurveda, yoga, vegetarian diet, joint family system, spicy cooking, free hospital system, vibrancy of colours, simplicity of life, hospitality, multiple languages and dialects, diversity in weather, saris and cow worship. The music and dance of India also attract them. The 22 percent annual growth of wellness tourism to India denotes how important the life in India is becoming to foreigners. These foreigners soon find that there is no mysticism or magic in India, and that sexual harassment of tourists in streets and staring by natives are taken for granted even while public display of affection will not be tolerated. They learn temple etiquettes and home etiquettes. They learn so many unexpected and new things in India, including taking off shoes before entering homes and temples, keeping back from wearing transparent clothing in public places, avoiding shorts wherever possible, not provoking men through dress, bending down and touching elders’ feet to show respect, eating with hands, always using the right hand for eating, greeting people and giving them gifts, living without privacy and personal space, and using toilet the Indian way, squatting with water and hygiene faucet, adding to cleanliness and hygiene. They begin to love Hindus and the good things in their life and soon learn the ultimate truth that the Hindus being not born Christians or Muslims or they not being born Hindus was a cosmic indecision.

The world watches with curiosity the changes in India returnees.

The world watches with curiosity the changes in women (and a few men) who come back from Hindu India. A lady returning from India will not answer questions directly by opening her mouth but would only wobble, bobble or shake her head from side to side to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or ‘its right by me’. She will not even nod. She has also begun to taking off her shoes when entering a home, even her home. True, she has learned her Indian lesson well. One lady would cry ‘aiyo’ when her head hits a corner. It is an apt and graceful word to express pain and grief, brought back from India, now such common in English that the Oxford English Dictionary has borrowed it. Her counterpart in New York marks the centre of her forehead with a tiny spot of sandal paste, occasionally. She says it’s comfortable to feel something in the centre of human consciousness. Many women in other religions in other countries also now mark their foreheads with Hindu bindis, recognizing its cosmetic value. Some women turn strict vegetarians on returning from India and some even occasionally go on fast as part of ‘self-cleansing’. Another has begun to regularly going to church- her Christian church. True, she has met her god in India and finally found her religion.

Not all going to India return with fond memories of Hindu hospitality.

A few travellers going to India for enjoying the virtues of Hinduism like Ayurveda or for sight-seeing as tourists are attacked during travels. Many loose their dignity and chastity and a few lose their lives also. Occasionally bleached bones and severed heads may what be returning from India. A Lithuanian young lady by name of Liga lost her life while resisting rape in an isolated island near the famous Kovalam beach in Trivandrum. She went to Kerala for indigenous Ayurvedic treatment in the real Hindu style and a few days later was reported missing. Repeated complaints by her sister to Kerala authorities yielded nothing and it took weeks to even register a case for ‘woman missing’ and begin a search. It was the victim’s bleached bones and severed head recovered by police. In spite of surrounded by people equipped with the latest in communication technology, the Tourism Minister and the Police Minister did not know a lady was reported missing and was suspected to be murdered. The Tourism Minister told press that Kerala is safe for tourism ‘now’ and he will begin ‘exhaustive measures to advertise in foreign press that tourists are absolutely safe in Kerala’. Think how unstable this minister’ chair would have become had this young lady been a U. S. citizen! Her husband told Indian press that he is going to make a film from Hollywood: must be about Hindu hospitality!!

Will Hinduism be limited to highly localized communities in foreign countries?

Many people are still optimistic about Hinduism becoming the foremost religion in the world in the future after shedding its meaningless rituals, due to its lack of central control compared to hierarchical religions like Christianity and Islam. If it does not shed its ritualistic dross and emerge as the number one, there is the sure future of the most-benefiting upper classes only remaining in this religion and the rest being absorbed by Christianity and Islam. Or, building on the Yoga bases already existing in Europe, large economic and political pressure groups under corporate leadership of skilful but wayward Gurus like Rajneesh may come up disguised as Hinduism, resulting in final inevitable military action like in Oregon in those countries. Anyway, the basic thread for its future existence will be woven not on Indian soil but by migrated Indians families in the west, and highly localized communities such as those existing in Cambodia, Mauritius, Nepal, Bali and Fiji. The last is not a speculation but an already recognized fact. Remember that the installation of the Hinduist Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi was later reported to be orchestrated by non-resident Hindu Indians, even challenging the intentions of the basic Hindu organization Rashtreeya Swayamsevak Sangh. In September 2018 the RSS, in their famous three-day discourses from Nagpur, began to issue clear warnings to the ruling Hindu-supposed regime to keep things native.

Being in oneness with the world and guided by collective knowledge of the world is the only option.

As mankind in general and Hindus in particular gains more knowledge and become wiser in ways of the world, more and more ancient customs in Hinduism become questioned and outdated. It is where the abominable gurus find their space. They reemerge as modern day gurus and manipulate old texts to tell people that these customs are justified, are unquestionable and should continue. Based on the necessity and abundance of gurus in an old world which was illiterate, they try to counter the truth that self-learning people in the modern day world can do without gurus to guide them.

The under-learned and orthodox Hindu organizations continuously ask the world if Hindus remain unorganized and divided, how they could deal with larger issues and problems. They needn’t worry. Their greatest leader, writer, teacher, philosopher and their once-President of India, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, has taught the world how they could do the only option of that by being ‘in oneness with the world, with the collective knowledge of the world guiding.’

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Author of several books in English and in Malayalam, mostly poetical collections, fiction, non fiction and political treatises, including Ulsava Lahari, Darsana Deepthi, Kaalam Jaalakavaathilil, Ilakozhiyum Kaadukalil Puzhayozhukunnu, Thirike Vilikkuka, Oru Thulli Velicham, Aaspathri Jalakam, Vaidooryam, Manal, Jalaja Padma Raaji, Maavoyeppoleyaakaan Entheluppam!, The Last Bird From The Golden Age Of Ghazals, Doctors Politicians Bureaucrats People And Private Practice, E-Health Implications And Medical Data Theft, Did A Data Mining Giant Take Over India?, Will Dog Lovers Kill The World?, Is There Patience And Room For One More Reactor?, and Swan, The Intelligent Picture Book.

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About The Editor

Born and brought up in a rural hamlet, Nanniyode, in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science in Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma Studies in Electronics and entered politics. Taught English Poetry for 30 years and served equally long in State Civil Service. Continuing. Unmarried and single. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam, including poetical collections, fictions and criticism. Ulsava Lahari, Darsana Deepthi, Puzhayozhukee Eevazhi, Vaidooryam, Manal, Jalaja Padma Raaji, Kaalam Jaalakavaathilil, Goodlaayi Graamum, Time Upon My Window Sill, The Good English Book and Swan, The Intelligent Picture Book are a few among.

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